DURANGO, Colo. – Colorado State University Pueblo volleyball concluded its final road trip of the 2023 regular season here Saturday with a five-set loss to Fort Lewis (26-24, 25-15, 26-28, 14-25, 17-19) in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play at Fort Lewis Fieldhouse.
 
With the setback, the ThunderWolves fall to 12-12 overall and 9-3 in the RMAC, while Fort Lewis improves to 13-11 overall and 6-6 in the RMAC. The loss put the Pack into a tie with South Dakota Mines for fourth place in the league standings heading into next week's final two matches of the regular season.
 
In Saturday's setback, the Pack offense hit .259, but hit under .200 in the third and fourth set and then played to 12 ties and four lead changes in the fifth set en route to suffering a loss to the Skyhawks. The Pack had 63 kills, eight aces and 14 blocks, but committed 19 attack errors and eight service errors.

"We played really low error volleyball at the net through two sets. The ladies executed the game-plan fairly well and we forced Fort Lewis to make adjustments. Once they made those adjustments, we didn't respond very well. We started to pile up errors and missed on opportunities to capitalize when we had the chance to steal momentum," CSU Pueblo head coach Austin Albers said following the match. "Clearly I need to do a better job in practice of preparing them for matches and drilling a higher standard of execution. That starts with me and that will be the focus of our training this week as we prepare for our regular season finale."

 
Sophomore opposite side hitter Kendall Harrington (San Antonio, Texas/Tom C. Clark) paced the Pack offense with 19 kills, four blocks and hit .378, while redshirt sophomore outside hitter Payton Van Veen (Springfield, Mo./Washburn University) added 18 kills, seven digs, two aces and five blocks and hit .340.
 
Sophomore outside hitter Sadie Scoville (Pleasant Grove, Utah/Pleasant Grove) tallied nine kills and 14 digs.
 
Freshman libero Maddox Richtmyre (Surprise, Ariz./Willow Canyon) posted a career-high 26 digs and added seven assists, while senior setter Grace Jansen (Sandy, Utah/Jordan) posted a double-double of 20 assists and 13 digs and junior setter Sabrina King (Parker, Colo./Lutheran) had 25 assists and two aces.
 
Alexis Hobie paced the Skyhawks with a match-high 26 kills and added 15 digs and hit .350. In addition to Hobie, Chailyn Swenson added 17 kills and 10 digs and Ella Butler had 13 kills, seven digs and hit .375. Natalia Lambos had a career-high 56 assists and had seven digs in the win.
 
The Skyhawks had 10 aces in the match and recorded 71 kills and 78 digs. FLC also hit .225 in the match.
 
Saturday's match featured 38 ties and 11 lead changes, including 16 ties and six lead changes in the third set.
 
In the first set, the Pack hit .344 with 13 kills, while FLC hit .282 with 17 kills. The set had seven ties and one lead change as CSU Pueblo won the set, 26-24.
 
The Pack led throughout in the second set as they hit .419 with 15 kills and had just two attack errors in earning a 25-15 set win.
 
FLC and CSU Pueblo played to 16 ties and six lead changes in the third set. FLC would take a 14-9 lead following a 5-0 run, before the Pack used a 9-1 run to take an 18-15 lead. The Pack would eventually take a 25-24 lead on an ace by redshirt sophomore outside hitter Savannah Coats (McHenry, Ill./McHenry), before FLC closed the set by scoring four of the final five points to seal its 28-26 win. The Pack hit .174 with 15 kills in the set, while FLC hit .161 with 17 kills.
 
In the fourth set, the Skyhawks jumped out to a 7-3 lead and led 16-8 when the Pack used a 4-2 run to pull within 18-12. The Skyhawks, though, would close the set on a 7-2 run to earn a 25-14 win. In the set, the Pack hit .135 with nine kills, while FLC had 18 kills and hit .421.
 
The fifth and final set was a wild one as it featured 12 ties and four lead changes. FLC jumped in front 5-2, before the Pack used a 5-2 run to tie the set at 7-all. The teams would tie the score up four more times before the Skyhawks jumped in front 13-11. CSU Pueblo responded with a kill by Van Veen and an attack error by Swenson to retie the set at 13. The Pack would score three of the next five points to take a 16-15 lead, but Swenson drilled a kill to give FLC a 16-all lead. The Skyhawks closed out the set by scoring three of the final four points to earn a 19-17 win. The Pack hit .292 with 11 kills in the set, while FLC had 11 kills and hit .172.
 
The Pack will return to action next weekend (Nov. 10-11) as they return home to Massari Arena to host UCCS for a 7 p.m. Senior Night match on Nov. 10, before concluding the regular season with a 6 p.m. match on Nov. 11 against 12th-ranked Regis.